Ein Wintergedicht – Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben
Hoffmann von Fallersleben was a German poet best known as the writer of “Das
Lied der Deutschen”, the third stanza of which is now Germany’s national anthem.
He also wrote poetry for children such as this winter poem.
Suggested pre-reading activities
Discussion
Discuss the unique features of poetry with learners. You may ask them about their
favourite poems or rhymes and the differences between a poem and other types
of text.
Before reading the poem, ask learners to work together to make a glossary of the
kinds of words and phrases people use when talking about winter. Ask them to
think of winter activities (and other verbs) as well as emotions associated with
winter. Ask them to share their glossaries with other groups. Do they know any of
these words or phrases in German?
Listening for key words
Give learners a list of key wintry words in German. Ask them to identify these as
they listen to you reading the poem or perhaps incorporate some red herrings and
ask them to select only the words they hear. Discuss these, and any other words
they recognised, with the class.
Suggested list:
Herbst
Eis
Schnee
Blumen
Vergessen
Des Armen
Zudecken
Frost
Niklaus
Tannenbaum
Singen
Froh
Frieren
Wind
Teiche
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Word association
Ask learners to pick any word from the list and to take 30 seconds to either write
or say aloud to their partners their word associations.
E.g. Flowers make me think of fields which makes me think of swing parks which
makes me thinks of the summer holidays which makes me think of school which
makes me think of desks which makes me think of work which makes me think of
writing which makes me think of …
Synonyms
Together learners think of synonyms for each word from the list and uses
dictionaries, word banks, each other to find the German equivalent.
Adjectives
Learners go through the list in English and assign an adjective to each word, or,
you may give learners an adjective bank from which they can choose adjectives,
the more unusual the better.
Predict
Ask learners to predict what they think is happening in the poem. How does the
poet feel about winter time? What vocabulary tells us this? Does the poet have
any messages for us?
Listening for poetic features
Read the poem again and ask the children to note down any interesting patterns
or sounds that they hear. Discuss this as a class.
Reading the poem
You may want to ask learners to highlight the key words from the glossary they
worked with in the key words task as well as any other familiar words or
cognates.
Ask learners to compare the vowels at the beginning of each stanza with the
word at the end of the first and last line. What is their conclusion?
A, a, a, der Winter der ist da.
A, a, a, der Winter der ist da.
Herbst und Sommer sind vergangen,
Winter, der hat angefangen,
A, a, a, der Winter der ist da.
E, e, e, nun gibt es Eis und Schnee.
Blumen blüh'n an Fensterscheiben,
Sind sonst nirgends aufzutreiben,
E, e, e, nun gibt es Eis und Schnee.
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I, i, i, vergiss des Armen nie.
Hat oft nichts, sich zuzudecken,
Wenn nun Frost und Kält' ihn schrecken.
I, i, i, vergiss des Armen nie.
O, o, o, wie sind wir alle froh
wenn der Niklaus wird was bringen
und vom Tannenbaum wir singen
O, o, o, wie sind wir Kinder froh.
U, u, u, die Teiche frieren zu
hei, nun geht es wie der Wind
übers blanke Eis geschwind
U, u, u, die Teiche frieren zu.
Before starting these activities discuss with learners the strategies they can
use for working out the unknown KEY WORDS. Provide dictionaries or word
banks as appropriate. Encourage learners to use what is known to “get the
gist” and to avoid spending lots of time looking up everything they don’t
know.
Summaries
The following phrases summarise each stanza of the poem. Ask learners to
use what they know to match these to each stanza.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Christmas is coming!
The poor suffer in winter
Let’s go ice-skating!
Flowers have stopped growing
A new season has begun!
Poetic language
Ask learners to look at the poem and find interesting descriptions of the
following:
a. frost patterns on windows
b. ice-skating
c. the suffering of poor people
This could be done in groups then shared with the class.
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Contrasting ideas
With reference to poetic features such as word choice, themes or mood ask
learners to discuss and note down any contrasting ideas the poet uses in
the poem. Discuss these as a class.
Possible examples:
 Happy children waiting for Santa to bring presents/the poor who are
afraid of the cold with nothing to cover them.
 Something ending (summer/autumn)/something beginning (winter).
 Things which are frozen and still/swift movement of ice-skating like
the wind.
Word classification
Ask learners to sort the following words from the poem into the correct
columns.
blank – der Teich – frieren – froh – vergessen – das Eis – blühen – die Kälte –
singen – der Tannenbaum – des Armen – Schnee - geschwind
verb
noun
adjective
adverb
Writing a diamante poem
Now guide learners in writing their own winter diamante poems in German
using the vocabulary and the exercises from above.
Diamante poems
Rules:
1. Diamantes are seven lines long.
2. The first and last lines have just one word.
The second and sixth lines have two words.
The third and fifth lines have three words.
And the fourth line has four words.
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3. Suggested forms:
Lines 1, 4, and 7 have nouns.
Lines 2 and 6 have adjectives.
Lines 3 and 5 have verbs.
Here’s an easy way to visualize all three rules:
Noun
Adjective, Adjective
Verb, Verb, Verb
Noun, Noun, Noun, Noun
Verb, Verb, Verb
Adjective, Adjective
Noun
You can, of course, make up your own rules when making a diamante
poem. It could be made entirely of nouns, or nouns and adjectives, or verbs
and nouns, or adverbs and nouns, or adjectives only… the list goes on!
SUGGESTIONS:
SYNONYM DIAMANTE
In this diamante, the words “Monsters” and “Creatures” mean the same thing, so
they are synonyms.
Monsters
Evil, Spooky
Howling, Shrieking, Wailing
Ghosts, Vampires, Goblins, Witches
Flying, Scaring, Terrifying
Creepy, Crawly
Creatures
Education,
Useful, powerful
Reading, writing, learning
Books, sports, instruments, experiments
Talking, listening, growing
new, interesting
school
ANTONYM DIAMANTE
In this diamante, you might say that the words “Cat” and “Dog” are opposites, or
“antonyms,” so this is an antonym diamante. Lines 2 and 3 refer to line 1. Lines 5
and 6 refer to line 7. Line 4 refers to both lines 1 and 2.
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Cat
Gentle, Sleepy
Purring, Meowing, Scratching
Whiskers, Fur, Collar, Leash
Barking, Licking, Digging
Slobbery, Playful
Dog
Summer
Golden, warm
Glowing, shimmering, soothing
Green, white, yellow, blue
Tightening, closing, darkening
Icy, still
Winter
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